Mage Towers

Why would Blizzard make unobtainable items? I understand that some items from really old expansions has become unobtainable because of changes within the game. However, what the hell was the point of removing the mage tower? I played through Legion a little bit but not enough to actually do anything within the mage tower. This sucks for us who came back in BFA especially since the COOLEST weapons transmogs that are in the game are now unobtainable. This is me begging you Blizzard to please bring back the mage towers. I BEG YOU!

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It has always been the case. Well, at least since Wrath. Old Naxx removed. Vanilla zones redone and most stuff removed. Original ZA and ZG gone. Challenge Mode Dungeons removed. Challenge Mode Weapons gone. Legendary cloak unobtainable.

You want everything? You need to be subbed all the time or you might not get something. It’s a marketing technique called “fear of missing out”. You’re welcome.

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It’s not ONLY a marketing technique, it’s also connected to overall reward design of the game, to create intrinsic value in a challenge, and to influence the perceived value.
FOMO refers mainly to the marketing scheme where something is placed on an arbitrary timelimit which you can purchase, like the transmog helmets were. But you’re of course not wrong in saying it applies to manipulating the perceived value by making it exclusive in a way that limits the time it’s available to get as well.

But if you consider the opposite, where you could always get something, or even get something easily; how would you feel?
One example in the game was the perceived value of epics (especially BoE since they were fairly rare) in vanilla, compared to retail now where you can get epics for a world quest and so on.

In other words, there’s a ton of research done on these kinds of things, how humans perceives value in things in general which has also been coupled with research into how gamers perceives values inside the games and so on.
The perceived value is shaped by lots of things, but it’s also relative. You wouldn’t feel as invested if epic was the only rarity in the game, for example. So to change the value of one thing can affect the value of another, to a certain degree. It’s not always like that, but in some cases it is. So it’s not all about the direct effects, there are knock-on effects too.
It’s a subject with lots of literature available.

Challenging Artifact Weapon Appearances belong to the past 

And they must stay there, along with every single unique challenge item/title.

Upon their removal from the game ,they get this unique aura which make them mean ‘something’.
That you’ve spent hours to get them and thats the greatest reward of all.

Im ‘sad’ that i didnt manage to level up a DH to get the MT skins , i am also ‘sad’ that i didnt play back then to obtain Benediction , i’m sad af that i didnt play back at WotLK to earn the Immortal / the Undying 


I will always admire those players who will have the items mentioned above.
But thats how it goes.

Next time i gotta keep my eyes open for challenges i might regret for not completing them to get the rewards i might miss forever.

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I understand why some things become unobtainable.
Mage Tower was designed with specific abilities and mechanics in place that may be gone now and it’s too big of a hassle to maintain them.

Otherwise I think it would totally be viable to keep such rewards still obtainable if certain conditions must be met by the player.

Herald of the TItans is probably the closest example. It can be achieved by a character that is at the level and ilevel obtainable at that time.

At the same time it is a very good example how these things don’t hold up in time. Aside from the gear farm it is a complete stomp and a very easy FoS to obtain.

I would very much like to be able to obtain things I could have. I began playing half into the SOO during MoP and got challenge mode sets on 4 classes.

Got the luck to get a free boost from a kind player on my 1st character, learned the tactics and later on held my own runs with my own guidance.

Unfortunately I simply didn’t have enough time to level all the classes, gear them and to the challenges.

At the end of the day, I understand both sides and I think the main fault would still be on Blizzard’s side because they design systems that constantly need maintenance and adjustments.

I fixed every single weapon, all classes - all speccs, in mage tower.
It was a feat I worked for and was proud of, and I knew if I wanted to change to X class/specc ; I would have the Mage Tower appearance for it if I wanted.

HOWEVER;
I hate the “fear of missing out” tactic, and I think all appearances, mounts, pets etc should be obtainable all the time –
Instead it should just still pose a challenge.
That is considered too much work tho, I suppose, to keep them somewhat updated
 eventho we have scaling technology in place.

The whole FOMO-business really makes me enjoy games less, and prefer singleplayer/offline games more as it has none of that in it.

The entire mindset of “Its not special unless I am the only one who has it BECAUSE it - CAN’T - be obtainable anymore” is horrible imo.
It’s a lot better with “I got this cause I overcame a challenge”


So I can’t say I understand the people who think unobtainable = special, rather than skill.
As an owner of a lot of unobtainables; I clearly disagree with that design, and I hope they implement things back and make them a challenge again.




“I don’t know how many MMO’s you’ve played before, but limited-time rewards are literally the essence of the genre, same with long grinds etc. It’s important to reward players who have been playing for a long time instead of catering simply to newer ones, and I think Blizzard is doing a pretty good job at that, since only a very few things from each expansion become unobtainable later on.”

Say’s “Papudeath”.
I’ve played quite a lot of them, as a gamer of 30 years; I can say the most toxic attitude ever created in this world is the “Limit it” or “Bigger-Boat”-view.
If you sincerely cling to this “essence” and praise it, I have no other words for you than please — Think further.

I completed all 36 Mage Tower Challenges - it felt great but looking back, even though it requires skill regardless of how much gear you have, many of them were done the “easy way”, late in the expansion with massive AP and gear, because quite frankly I didn’t have time (or inclination) to grind the challenge on 36 specs at the highest possible difficulty, and as such I don’t feel that accomplished - Blizzard could have effectively locked our iLevel if they wanted to, but instead allowed us to go there completely overpowered, and in doing so mocking those who did it early with great difficulty and dedication.
I don’t feel like I got it because I’m extremely dedicated or skilled.
I feel like I got it simply because I was subscribed at that time.

I wholeheartedly believe limited-availability rewards are a terrible design for a game like WoW.
This game should be all about retroactive value in building your account, not regret and frustration.

I accept Blizzard temporarily removing these challenges when a new expansion comes out so that they can tune it for the new class mechanics, but they must put it back into the game, with appropriate difficulty so that in order to obtain the Skins, you need Skill.

The same should apply to Challenge Mode Skins and titles such as Immortal or Undying.

Blizzard has the Tech to make that (and much more) happen.

As a side rant, to this day I still don’t understand why Blizzard hasn’t considered having BOTH pre-Cataclysm and post-Cataclysm Azeroth available in Retail.
Why don’t we start at level 1 in pre-Cataclysm Azeroth and watch it be deformed by Deathwing once we hit level 80.

How can Blizzard expect new players to become engaged in a game with zero coherence in storytelling - since cataclysm you start at level 1 in cataclysm storyline (which happens after WotLK), but then you jump to Outland and Northrend while leveling, and then back to Cataclysm content


I don’t know how many MMO’s you’ve played before, but limited-time rewards are literally the essence of the genre, same with long grinds etc. It’s important to reward players who have been playing for a long time instead of catering simply to newer ones, and I think Blizzard is doing a pretty good job at that, since only a very few things from each expansion become unobtainable later on.

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